


Kissing John Sheppard

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [48]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Dollhouse - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: <i>Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir,</i><br/>You took to me so well hypnotic taking over me<br/>Make me feel like someone else you got me talking in my sleep<br/>I don't wanna come back down I don't wanna touch the ground<br/>Pacific Ocean, dug so deep, hypnotic taking over me</p><p>Elizabeth's affection for John is unrequited. Set mostly as a tag to The Long Goodbye, but continues through Elizabeth's final demise. John checks on how Elizabeth is doing after the trauma of being imprinted against her will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kissing John Sheppard

Elizabeth wasn't one to withhold truth easily, because knowing all the facts was vital to handling a situation appropriately. But there wasn't a situation to be handled, so she didn't tell anyone.

But she remembered. She remembered being imprinted with Phoebus. She remembered the hatred and fury and the unending anguish of being the last of a people at war, whose only hope was to be victorious before she died.

Most of all, though, she remembered kissing John Sheppard.

Because even though Thelan had been controlling John's body, it had been Sheppard's mouth against hers, his warm skin under her hands, his body pressed to hers, and oh, it had been so long since she'd been with anyone, touched anyone, and despite his surprise, he'd kissed her back.

According to Beckett and McKay, no one was supposed to remember their time while imprinted, usually for security purposes - after all, the point of the imprint technology was to debrief a fallen soldier. And John, who had somehow come out of the imprint faster than her despite being imprinted after her, appeared to be suffering no ill-effects from his time under the imprint, other than the way some of the other soldiers were skittish around him, and he had to work some of his charm to get them to let him apologize.

Beckett had warned Elizabeth to come talk to him if she felt any lingering side-effects from the imprinting. She was pretty sure he was only talking about medical side-effects, and she was pretty sure that being hypnotized by John Sheppard's mouth every time he spoke wasn't a medical condition (but if it was, at least she could get it treated).

She decided that, rather than avoiding his gaze, she'd stand beside him so she didn't have to look at him while he talked. That worked for, oh, two seconds, because when she stood right beside him, she was suffused with his presence, his warmth and his strength, and that was a bad idea, because then she wanted to touch him. So she tried to be distracted whenever she had to talk to him, but that wasn't an option, because if she was looking at papers she really did get distracted and John could slip something by her, like a training exercise for the gate-team civilians that would also boost the morale of the troops: paintball wars. Losers had to clean up the paint.

Naturally, the only person who noticed something was wrong with her was John.

"Elizabeth."

His voice startled her. She was in her office, working late. He should have been in bed hours ago.

"John?"

"Is something bothering you?"

Elizabeth glanced up. He stood in the doorway. He wasn't wearing his uniform. In fact, the sweat pants and USAF t-shirt looked rather like pajamas.

"What makes you ask?"

"You've been – distant. Distracted."

"I –"

"It was being imprinted, wasn't it?"

She wasn't used to the stillness, the caution of his voice. "What makes you say that?"

"Caldwell wasn't wrong when he thought the concept was dark," John said. He wasn't leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed, the poster boy for insouciance. He was standing straight and tall, limbs still, like if he moved too suddenly she would bolt.

"Carson said there were no after-effects of the imprinting," Elizabeth said.

The corner of John's mouth curved up in amusement. "Carson's never been imprinted before."

Elizabeth sat back, buried her face in her hands for a moment. "You seem to be coping well with what happened."

"Coping well? All the marines know you kicked my ass." There, another flicker of amusement, more of the John Elizabeth was used to.

"Do you still feel Thelan in there? At all?"

"Are you asking if I still have the urge to kill you?"

"No! I trust you, John." Elizabeth managed a weak smile.

He tilted his head, eyed her curiously. "Do you still have the urge to kill me?"

"No."

"Okay then." He smiled, relaxed. "Look, Elizabeth, having someone else in your head can be really weird. But remember, it's another person. A whole person, complete with instincts, feelings - maybe even phobias and allergies. As long as you know who you are, you're fine."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "You've put a lot of thought into this." John never ceased to surprise her, but she was warmed by this rare display of trust, of his true intelligence.

But then his expression turned shuttered, and he was still again. "Look, I'm really not angry at you. You wanted to do something kind, and you were tricked. We were both tricked. Whatever it is you think I think about you – I don't."

It wasn't what he was thinking about her. It was what she was thinking about him. Damn, but his mouth. But Elizabeth was a professional. She smiled at him, a genuine smile. "Thanks, John. I really appreciate it."

"Great. See you at the briefing tomorrow then." John dipped his head respectfully and walked away.

If Elizabeth watched him go for longer and more intently than was appropriate, well, she was only human. If it took her a few more days before she could look at him properly when she spoke to him, it was the lingering effects of the imprint. That was what she told herself, and if she dreamed of John at night, well, those were just dreams.

But she took the memory of kissing John with her till the day she died, and the day the replicators brought her back, and the moment she stepped through the gate and into empty space.


End file.
